Oral History Interview with Wayne Beery, July 24, 2004 Page: 5
This text is part of the collection entitled: National Museum of the Pacific War Oral History Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
wool, with corn and preserves and to this day I can't eat any
mutton.
I was fortunate, as a kid I joined when I was 18 years old. Went
down to San Diego which was in the fall of '43 and took basic
training out there. According to the talent and age they decide
where you are to be sent and I was sent to Mare Island. About the
time I got out of boot camp it was the time of the Palawan
Invasion. By the time I got there they were bring back the wounded.
One of the men we brought back had been a State Policemen in
Illinois, and I had gotten acquainted with him in boot camp. He was
about 20 years old and was transported to the naval hospital there.
I was fortunate as after boot camp I never was sent to one of
those areas, partially because I still needed more training.
If you talk to Lawrence Norris, he's a good example what the
Marine Corp was like at that time. I was just 17 years old while
Lawrence was 28 years old. They were well trained and knew what
they were doing. For the guys 17 and 18 years old, it wasn't an
easy situation to get into because somebody got this plan like
Tarawa. Some of the guys had to go in at low tide and attack the
Japs.
I don't know how much fire power they threw in there on that
little island, but the Japs had a good line of defense and there
simply wasn't enough shells fired. They had to take the 2nd Marines
in there and I call it a suicide deal.
Mr. Tombaugh
Did you see any of the suicide plane attacks?
Mr. Beery
That was down at Bali, I think. But none there at Okinawa. We
relieved several Army Units. When you moved you saw the aftermath
of the war; sometimes you'd get killed by own fire.
There at Okinawa the battlewagon (USS Iowa) and couple of others
were there and when they fired you really knew it. The next couple
weeks it looked like the 4th of July at night. We didn't see any
fighting till the men reached the north end of Island.
In my estimation the Okinawa Invasion was the best we had in the
Pacific Theater. The reason being that the leaders of the 10th Army
had the know how and so stated how they wanted it done from the
battlewagons down to the foot soldiers. At that time the Japanese
thought we were going to Formosa. (The Japanese commander also
realized that the losses in the coming preinvasion bombardment
would be excessive for the defense of Okinawa and pulled all thetroops back to make their stand in the hills.)
During the landings by the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment I
believed Lawrence Norris was farther down the beach at Nakagusuku
Bay, later to become known as Buckner Bay. I couldn't believe the
silence on the beach not a shot was fired as I stepped ashore.
The first day of the landing which was 1 Apr., 1945 I was with
the Battalion HQ Company and rode with the Colonel, and his radio.
My job was telephone communications and I carried this reel of
telephone wire which had to be strung out when we stopped. At the5
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This text can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View seven pages within this text that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Text.
Beery, Wayne. Oral History Interview with Wayne Beery, July 24, 2004, text, July 24, 2004; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1606377/m1/5/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.